Refrigerating apparatus



Jan. 13, 1942. R H, GEIGER 2,269,873-

REFRIGERATING APPARATUS Filed July 16. i940 fiaamm 5060? Patented Jan.13, 1942 UNITED STATES PATEN T, Y OFFICE 2,269,873REFRIGERATINGAPPARATUS Robert H. Geiger, Dayton, Ohio ApplicationJuly-.16, 1940, Serial No. 345,786

8 Claims.

My invention relates to refrigeration and particularly to individualfreezing trays and a common support therefor, whereby a single tray maybe removed from the support without dis-' turbing any of the remainingtrays on the support, to remove an ice cube or any other frozen matterin the tray, after said matter has been frozen into a solid mass.

My invention is well adapted to be used in the freezing compartments ofany type of refrigerator whether it be electric, gas or any other kindof chemically operated refrigerator.

In many such refrigerators now on the mar ket the ice trays are arrangedto hold a plurality of'ice cubes and it is inconvenient and sometimesvery difiicult to get a single cube only, from the tray of multiplecubes.

Very often a person wishes only a single :cube and where a plurality ofcubes are made in a single tray it may be necessary to remove. all cubestherefrom in order to get a singleone of the cubes for .use.

Therefore it is one of the objects of my invention to provide a novelice, or other matter, mold for making only a single cube of ice, 01'single cube of other frozen matter, which can be readily and very easilytaken from the refrigerator without disturbing the remaining cubes inthe freezing compartment.

Another object of my invention is the provision of a novel supportingmeans for a plurality of individual freezing trays.

A further object is to provide the individual molds or trays with anovel expansion section whereby an ice cube or any other frozen mattercan be very quickly and easily removed.

Another object of my invention is to provide such novel molds with aconvenient handle and also with a novel support whereby the mold maybe-inverted over a cup or water glass and rested on the edge thereofwhile the frozen material is removed from the mold or tray into the cupor glass.

Another object of my invention is the provision of lugs or projectionson themold for cooperating with the support whereby only a very smallsurface of the mold rests on the common support thus eliminating, or atleast reducing to a minimum, the freezing of the mold to the commonsupport.

A still further object of my invention is to produce a novel commonsupport for a plurality of individual molds or trays, constructed sothat the :molds can be placed 'onsaid support in one position .cnly.

With these and other incidental objects in view my invention includescertain novel features of construction and combinations of parts, theessential elements of which are .set forth in appended claims, and apreferred form or embodiment of which is hereinafter described withreference to the drawing which'accompanies and forms part of thisspecification.

Of said drawing:

Fig. 1 is a view, partly in section, and partly broken away, showing myimproved commonsupport with two of the molds or trays thereon, one beingsectioned.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary plan view of the same, except the two trays areshown close together, and one of them is broken away.

Fig. 3 is an end view of the common support showing one of the molds ortrays in position thereon.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary enlarged plan view of the individual moldshowing particularly the expansion section thereof.

Fig. 5 is a section on line 5-5 of Fig. 4 looking in the direction ofthe arrows.

Fig. 6 shows how the individual mold can be inverted and rested on theedge of a drinking glass to release the ice cube or other frozen matter,into the glass.

Detailed description My novel common support for the individual moldscomprises side rails 20 and 2| formed as loops which may be made of asolid material or a tubing, either of which is to be light in weight.These rails 20 and 2| are connected at their ends by rods 22. The rail20 is lower than the rail 2! for a purpose to be hereinafter described.

My novel individual molds 25 are arrangedsid by side on the rails asshown in Figs. 1 and 2, and can be separately removed to obtain a singleice cube when desired without disturbing any of the remaining molds,

Each mold 25 is preferably made of a single piece and it may bemanufactured of a spring non-rust metal. However I do not wish to limitmy invention to any particular kind of metal or other material as manydifferent kinds are available for such purposes.

The sides 26 and 21 (Figs. 2 and 3) and 28 and 29 (Figs. 1, 2, 4 and 5)are formed up from a base or bottom 30, and at an angle off thevertical.

The side 25 and a portion of the sides 28 and 29 haveformed at the topthereofa single continuous .flange 3|, and the side 21 and anotherportion of the sides 28 and 29 have formed at the top thereof a singlecontinuous flange 32. All four sides 26, 21, 28 and 29 are tapered asshown and as above stated. These flanges 3| and 32 are arranged to leaveopenings 33 and 34 just above the expansion sections of the sides 28 and29.

The sides 28 and 29 have semi-circular and V-shaped expansion sections35 and 36 respectively which function by expanding when a person removesan ice cube or other frozen matter from the mold or tray 25. Theseexpansion sections 35 and 35 run from a point near the center of thesides 28 and 29 at the bottom 39 and Secured to the top of the leftportion of the flange 3| by bolts or rivets 49 is a plate 4 I having aboss 42 the top of which is curved as at .43 to form a rest for the moldor tray 25 when'the latter is inverted over the top of a drinking glass45 as shown in Fig. 6, or over any other receptacle into which it isdesired to release an ice cube. The bolts or rivets 49 have heads 46(Figs. 1 and 3) forming lugs which rest on the upper side of the rail 2|to support the mold 25, to aid in maintaining the mold 25 level.

The right portion of the flange 32 (Figs. 1, 2, 3 and 6) has securedthereto by bolts or rivets 59 a plate forming a handle 5|. The handle isslotted to receive the flange 32 and to so locate said handle as to makeit lower than the bottom of the heads of the bolts heads 46 for theplate 4|. The bolts 59 have heads 53 resting on the top of the rail 29to aid in maintaining the mold 25 level. The heads 46 and 53 are flatand therefore reduce to a minimum any freezing of the mold 25 to therails 29 and 2|, due to the fact that the tops of the rails are round.

These rails may be of any desired length depending upon the size of thefreezing compartment in the refrigerator with which they are to be used.The length of the rails therefore will determine the number of molds ortrays 25 which can be used in connection therewith.

From the above description it can be readily seen that it is very easyto remove only a single mold from the rails to obtain a single ice cubefor use when desired, without having to remove more than one cube, andwithout disturbing any of the remaining cubes. As stated above thiscannot be accomplished with many of the freezing trays now on themarket.

Moreover as the rails are of different heights,

the molds cannot be placed on the rails in any but the proper positionsin which they are level whereby the water or other matter therein to befrozen cannot spill. The entire group of molds can be withdrawn from thefreezing compartment by grasping the rod 22.

Due to my novel construction of the mold or tray 25, ice cubes can bevery easily released from said tray by holding the handle and invertingthe mold over a glass or other receptacle as shown in Fig. 6 and holdingthe bottom rigid and putting a slight pressure upwardly (as viewed inFig. 6) with the thumb on the handle whereupon due to the expansionsections, the traywill flex sufliciently to release the ice cube or anyother frozen matter that may be in the tray 25. The tray may be invertedon a kitchen work table or any other convenient place to release thecube.

The cube may also be released from the tray by using both hands andgrasping the handle 5| and the plate 4|42 exerting a slight pull, awayfrom each other, on the handle and on the plate 4|--42, whereupon thecube is immediately released from the tray due to the expansion sections35 and 36.. The above may be accomplished by holding the tray, or thetray may be set on a table on its bottom 39 and the cube can be freedfrom the tray in the same manner as just described, that is by pullingslightly, in opposite directions on the handle and on the plate 4|-42.

While the form of mechanism herein shown and described is admirablyadapted to fulfill the objects primarily stated, it is to be understoodthat my invention is not limited to the one form or embodiment shown, asit is susceptible of other embodiments, all coming within the scope ofthe claims which follow.

What I claim is: v 1. In an apparatus of the class described, thecombination of a plurality of members of varying sizes connectedtogether near their ends, the bottoms of said members being in ahorizontal plane, to form a common support for a plurality of individualfreezing molds; and a plurality of individual freezing molds havingmeans of various heights projecting from opposite ends thereof tocooperate with the varying sized members whereby said molds aremaintained in level positions relative to thebottoms of said members..2. In an apparatus of the class described, the combination of twomembers of varying heights connected together near their ends to form acommon support for a plurality of individual freezing molds; a pluralityof individual freezing molds, each mold having a plurality of flanges ofequal height relative to its bottom; means secured to one flange of eachmold for cooperating with one of said members; and means secured toanother flange of each mold for cooperating with the lower one of saidmembers for maintaining the molds level.

3. In an apparatus of the class described, the combination of aplurality of individual freezing molds each having lateral extensions ofequal height relative to its bottom; a common support for said moldscomprising side members of varying heights and end members; meanssecured to one of said extensions of each mold to cooperate with thehigher one of said side members; and means secured to another of saidextensions of each mold to cooperate with another of said side members,both of said means functioning to maintain their associated molds level.

4. A freezing tray comprising a bottom, ends and sides; a plurality ofextensions formed on said ends and sides and constructed to leaveopenings at the center of the top of the sides; and a plurality ofexpansion sections formed in the sides, said sections beginning at thejunction of the bottom and the sides and extending upwardly to positionsnear the top of said sides and below said openings and increasing insize from the bottom to the top.

5. A freezing compartment comprising a bottom; ends and sides; aplurality of extensions formed on said ends and sides and providingopenings midway of said ends; and a plurality of semi-circular-taperedsections formed in said sides intermediate said'ends and adjacent saidopenings, said sections extending from the bottom to positions near thetop and increasing in diameter from the bottom to the top.

6. A freezing tray having lateral extensions integral with the sides andends of the tray, said extensions being constructed to form openingsmidway of the ends of the tray; expansion sections formed in the sidesof the tray adjacent said openings to render the latter manuallydistortable to release any frozen matter in the tray; and means securedto one of said extensions to form a rest for said tray upon invertingthe same to release said frozen matter.

7. A distortable freezing container to receive matter to be frozen;extensions on said container, one of said extensions being integral withone end and a portion of each side of the container, another of saidextensions being integral with the other end and a portion of each sideof th container, said extensions being constructed to provide openingssubstantially midway between the ends of the container; and oppositelydisposed expansion sections in said sides of the container; whereby aslight pressure exerted on said extensions causes the bond between thecontainer and any frozen matter therein to be broken whereupon saidfrozen matter is immediately released from said container.

8. A freezing tray for an individual cube of frozen matter and having anexpansion section in each of its sides; an extension on each'of the endsof the tray; and extensions on each of said sides and arranged to leavean opening above each of said expansion sections, each expansion sectionextending from the junction of its respective side and the bottom to aposition near the top of said side and increasing in size as it nearssaid position.

ROBERT H. GEIGER.

